A popular female scientist has launched an attack on the sexist commenters that respond to her YouTube video blogs on a daily basis.

Emily Graslie, 23, who is Chief Curiosity Correspondent at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History, regularly receives negative feedback concerning the fact that she is a woman on her show Brain Scoop.

In a blisteringly articulate post titled 'Where My Ladies At', she argues that this kind of 'internet bullying' is hampering the advance of female educators in science, technology, engineering and math.

Stop the internet bullying: Emily Graslie, 23, who is Chief Curiosity Correspondent at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History, regularly receives sexist comments about her YouTube show Brain Scoop

'There's a pressure to be the whole
package,' she says. 'Not only do you have to be intelligent and articulate, but you
also have to be attractive.'

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Among the comments that she cites as examples are statements like: 'I'd still totally do her,' and 'perhaps you should consider wearing slightly racier
clothing?'

Indeed, many are personal attacks on her appearance.

'I
can't stop looking at her nose. It looks so weird. It kind of makes her
look like a nerdy pig'

'She just needs some sexier glasses,' reads one. 'I
can't stop looking at her nose. it looks so weird. It kind of makes her
look like a nerdy pig.'

Another observes: 'She is really cute, but as if she made
herself unattractive on purpose? She could easily keep us focused by
changing her clothes. I would really like to see her again with the
new looks.'

Others take aim at the fact that she is a woman in science, assuming that the brains behind the operation are male.

Calling for change: Ms Graslie said that there is widespread apathy when it comes to such comments, largely because people don't know what to do about them

'You'd think this was a man's job, not two
beautiful ladies,' one said. 'Thumbs up for the Skyrim reference. it made me
chortle. I assume that was written by Michael.' [Michael: 'That was not written by me.']

Ms Graslie points out that 'the overwhelming
majority of comments are positive and encouraging, but there's still a
lot of nastiness that I have to deal with on a daily basis in trying to
make these positive and encouraging videos.'

She explains that there are significantly
less female STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) bloggers
than men, and they are experiencing far less success.

SO SEXIST: THE WORST OF THE COMMENTS ON BRAIN SCOOP

'Emily, even though the clothes that you're wearing kind of disguise it, you look like you might be pretty hot under them. Perhaps you should consider wearing slightly racier clothing?'

'She just needs some sexier glasses. . . I can't stop looking at her nose. it looks so weird. It kind of makes her look like a nerdy pig.'

'She is really cute, but as if she made herself unattractive on purpose? She could easily keep us focused by changing her clothes.'

'You'd think this was a man's job, not two beautiful ladies. Thumbs up for the Skyrim reference. it made me chortle. I assume that was written by Michael.' [Michael: 'That was not written by me.']

'I'd still totally do her.'

'Finally, I've saw her body. Oh my God, how
can a woman be hotter than Emily. if you ever need a safe place to stay
while you study the Patagonia in Argentina, please, feel free to get in
touch with me. I will sponsor your whole journey, just to stare at you.'

'While there are at least 13 STEM channels hosted by men with more than 400,000 subscribers, and seven of
those 13 that have topped a million, there are only four channels hosted by
women that have more than 160,000. None of us have more than a million,' she said.

She adds that while this is not a numbers game, and that the male bloggers deserve their success, this sexist reaction could be part of the reason that women don't persevere when faced with it.

'I feel like in general women don't have enough time to do
these things because of the pressure that every episode has to be
flawless in execution,' she said. 'This could be a deterrent for both men and women,
but I feel women are going to give up more easily.'

She says women in her field have a fear of the feedback from subscribers and commenters because one becomes concerned that the audience
is more focused on their appearance than the quality of content.

'Even
more than that, we are not convinced that the content has to be good or
factual because we're not convinced that people are watching for the
content in the first place,' she continues. 'That brings on self criticism like, I'm not intelligent or funny or engaging enough on my own.'

Ms Graslie said that there is widespread apathy when it comes to such comments, largely because people don't know what to do about them.

She called upon viewers to help spark a change and acknowledge that these are serious issues that need to be discussed.

'We can't
idly sit by and tolerate internet bullying in any form,' she said. 'Because that's
what this is - this is internet bullying. . . Help us make it widely-known that this
kind of apathetic attitude is detrimental and unacceptable.

'We need to
make sure that we're making it possible for people of all genders to
feel acknowledged for their contributions and not feel held back by
something as arbitrary as their genetics or their appearance.'